Architect's mission in Cyprus: One man's quest to find Atlantis

Something amazing is going to happen very soon in the Mediterranean Sea off Cyprus: they are going to uncover the lost island of Atlantis. What's different about the latest attempt is that the man behind it, a 39-year-old Iranian-American called Robert Sarmast, displays no doubts: he is absolutely convinced that he has discovered Atlantis. This month on his website, discoveryofatlantis.com, he published three dimensional images which he claims prove the existence of the acropolis of Atlantis, seven kilometres off the Cyprus coast and 1,000 metres below the surface.

He has persuaded a mainstream American documentary maker, TMC Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, to climb on board, and sink tens of thousands of dollars into making a two-hour live special on Mr Sarmast's final expedition and the "filming of the structures" next year. "This TV special, says the company, "will enable viewers worldwide to participate in the thrill of discovery as they watch, live on their own TV screens, as manned submarines film underwater ROV submersibles blasting sediment off the buried structures - revealing the full detail of what has lain hidden for probably more than 12,000 years." TMC producer Drew S. Levin said: "We are absolutely thrilled to be associated with what may in fact be the greatest archaeological discovery of modern times. All the indications are that Robert and his team of highly-credentialed researchers have indeed found the acropolis of the lost Atlantis ..."

Mr Sarmast has described what he is going to reveal to the world so vividly it is as if we were already standing, blinking, before it. He believes that Cyprus was merely the highest mountain range at the north-western tip of Atlantis. The ancient land itself spread eastwards towards what is now Syria. He says: "Right below Larnaca was a fresh-water lake; from Ayia Napa" - today a resort in the far south-east of Cyprus famous for its raves - "begins the western edge of the Atlantis plain, which goes all the way to the coast of Syria. The acropolis of the lost city is situated exactly seven miles off Cyprus." And the buildings that still stand on it, Mr Sarmast assures us, will be the oldest buildings the eye of modern man has ever fallen on, and will make "the pyramids of ancient Egypt look like modern buildings" in contrast.